Qui Laudavit
by Avelona-and-Sally
Summary: One side-effect of having a demon sealed in you is a taste for blood. Another is the ability to make humans and demons alike do your bidding. With a friend like Hinata, though, who needs servants? AU. Demon!Naruto, NaruHina, SasuSaku.
1. Chapter 1

Naruto Uzumaki didn't care for vegetables. They were either tastelessly bland or so full of horrible flavor that his nose wanted to grow backwards into his head and smell his brain because, surely, that was better than this.

_This_ was a plate of fresh, leafy greens presented to him by a thin-mouthed Ayame Ichiraku, her father standing consolingly behind her.

"C'mon, Naruto-chan. I know you can manage this."

He could _smell_ their raw-ness. Carrots weren't so bad. Cooked and salted, they, like onions, were bearable. But the girl (who didn't know who she was dealing with - his pranks weren't _only_ reserved for those who ignored him!) had loaded up the platter with lettuce (grass), small radishes cut into squares, pink skin bleeding into the white (the spice cut his nose, even from its bearable distance on the table), and tomatoes. At first glance, Naruto had liked tomatoes. They were a delicious red, plump and filled with a fleshy juice that squirted into his mouth. Before he'd registered the taste, he recognized the sensation as heavenly. But then the bland, covering-bitter taste had hit him, and he never touched one since. They were his greatest disappointment.

Relief, of course, came in the form of ramen. Warm, liquid, with filling noodles and likely containing meat. Above all, _salty._ The closest he'd come to sation since _that_ incident. (But they never, ever talked about it. Hokage-jiji told him not to mention it, no matter what, and he'd been so scared of trouble that he'd agreed.) And the richest, fattiest ramen, with the longest noodles and juiciest meat came only from Ichiraku's.

Ramen which Ayame was promising him at half-price for a week, if he could hold down a plate of rabbit food.

Naruto held back the bile which gathered in his throat at the thought of consuming anything on the plate without accompaniment, and bit into a tomato, imploring himself to ignore the taste, focus on the texture, the feel of the skin bursting at his teeth, water flowing into his mouth, fake-meat squishing between his jaws. _'Think salty,'_ he reminded himself, _'This is a mouthful of noodles,'_ a handful of leaves - he didn't know what that was, covered the sensation up with cucumbers (almost like tomatoes, but he was more cautious when he encountered them, and was not so let down). _'Think meat,'_ he told himself, which did the trick much better.

And then the fantasy went bad. Because cooked meat turned to raw meat really fast, watery tomato juice becoming something richer and darker, white radish becoming white something else. He tried not to think about how this was wrong, wrong, _wrong_ but focused on finishing the plate, ignoring how satisfying the feel of crushing a carrot between his back teeth was, or peeling the skin off a cucumber stick between his front.

And then he was done, feeling too full of nothing, stomach asking him why he'd done that, but smiling shakily at a beaming Ayame.

"There! That wasn't so hard, was it?"

"Ramen!" he asked, brandishing a pair of chopsticks, and both the shop owner and his daughter moved to rustle up 'something special' for such a feat.

Naruto sighed - but no, stop, don't, if you do - ! - and threw up neatly onto the ground, tasting not only the acid but also the carrots, cucumbers, tomatoes, radishes, goddamn, even the _lettuce_ gained some form of flavor this time around! He peered carefully at the vomit, wondering idly what would happen now, blinking up at Ayame, whose hands were covering her mouth and the old man, who was shaking his head.

"Next time, let's not force it, huh?" the man said, scooping the mess carefully into the trash, kicking some dirt up over the stain. "Come on, Naruto, let's get you to the hospital."

Naruto didn't care for the hospital, either.

[-M-]

When Naruto was little, it wasn't hard to get him to eat, as long as it wasn't vegetables. Grains and meat and milk went in just fine, though maybe with too much salt or sweetener, and he always ate more than expected, planning on growing up to be a big, strong ninja.

Until one day he got a big cut from a kunai he was practicing with, and decided to lick it to clean up or because spit was good for cuts (but really because he saw an actual ninja doing it, and ninja were _super cool)_ and discovered that blood...tasted _really _good.

Other people were a no-no. Cuts hurt, and he wasn't supposed to hurt his fellow Konoha shinobi. But he was fair game, so he cut some more, and licked some more, a little more, every day, until he accidentally fell asleep in class and didn't wake up for a whole day. When he did wake up, he was in the hospital, with the Hokage introducing him to Inoko Yamanaka, who was asked him a lot of questions about the villagers and his teachers and his friends at school.

In the end, he was let off with some very stern remarks not to hurt himself any more, that drinking blood was _not_ okay, and that he really should try to make friends with the other children.

It took him six years to realize animals weren't people. He'd spent most of his money on old scrolls, and food had dwindled until he was down to a can of tuna and a rock-hard piece of bread, and the unlucky bird who decided to rest on his windowsill was just plain _stupid._ He ate it faster than he ate ramen - and he _inhaled_ ramen - messily, obsessively, sucking the stain from his fingers and ripping out the digestive tract like he'd done it all his life, cleaning away the feathers the same way he cleaned away ramen containers after breakfast.

The next day, he'd _hunted,_ walked to the woods and waited until a rabbit darted past him. He watched the white tail disappearing into bushes on fast feet - but not fast enough, because he had it by the legs, struggling, clawing and making more lines of red appear on his own skin and _that_ - he took the rabbit's head - he knew - _twisted - _wasn't okay.

If his teeth grew longer, no-one cared. If his nails grew sharper and harder, no-one noticed. If he seemed happier, more energetic, playing pranks and giving it one hundred-ten percent, well, _that_ was noticed by everyone.

He was on a mission. He was going to make his first friend.

As it happened, his first friendship happened not through mutual enjoyment of the same things, but through Naruto very badly needing to keep his enjoyment of one thing in particular a secret.

Hinata Hyuuga watched him. She watched him try his best at school and get back up with a smile when he failed. Watched him act silly, spraying water at snobby girls and leaving paint on teachers' seats. Watched him try to befriend Sasuke Uchiha, the strongest, and get ignored. Watched him try to befriend Sakura Haruno, the smartest, and get rejected. Watched him watch them, and wonder what he'd done wrong.

Watched him work off the stress training through target practice in the woods. Watched target practice become something more of a horror show, watched his head shoot up to see who'd followed him after she brushed against a bush. Watched him watch her, and wait.

For screaming, she guessed. For more rejection, and then to go to school tomorrow and have her ignore him. But no, she wasn't like Sasuke or Sakura. She _wanted_ to talk to Naruto, play with him, train with him.

So she pulled out a white handkerchief and held it out to him, "Y-You've got s-s-something on your fa-face."

And he took it from her, the red coming away to reveal surprise.

"I-I'm Hinata."

"I'm Naruto." He grinned, and blood specked his teeth. "Wanna be friends?"

[-M-]

Hinata's stomach had long-since stopped churning at the thought of dead things. This could be because she was a kunoichi-in-training, or it could be because it was her fourth month in a row arranging raw meat to look appealing in a bento for her crush. Blood didn't bother her any more than soy sauce, and she could even stomach small amounts of whatever Naruto asked her to try, just so that he didn't feel bad for eating like an animal.

Imagine! Before they'd met, he'd been eating one meal a day, after school, because there was just no way for him to leave school to hunt for lunch without getting messy in the process. Lucky for him, Hinata had keep-cool lunchboxes and was willing to undergo lots of scrutiny from those who saw her at work in the kitchen in the morning to have him fed.

He was grateful, a little uncomfortable at first, but it melted away once it became quite apparent she didn't have very many problems with his diet. (The first and foremost one being that it was inconsistent and there was no way he was eating enough with one meal a day, the second one being that it wasn't something they could share like real best friends did. When Naruto did share, it was a bit of a task for her to keep it down.)

[-M-]

The attack on Naruto by a drunk civilian wasn't so much of an event as it was a catalyst. There was just something about having your worst fears yelled straight into your face that made you lose it.

When Naruto woke up, he was in the hospital, a tired Hokage and Iruka waiting for him to have another talk.

"I'm sorry!" Naruto yelled, looking terrified, "I swear, I didn't mean to do it, I just - when he said what I - I couldn't _see_ - I'm really sorry, I - !"

"Calm _down,_ Naruto," the Hokage said sternly, "We are not upset with you. What do you remember from what happened?"

_Everything,_ he thought. The man's screams when Naruto advanced on him, how the smell of his fear permeated the clearing, how he _tasted…_

Hinata's horror.

Naruto shook his head, "I remember - _eating…"_ And wasn't that an appealing idea? His stomach didn't churn at the thought like it did with vegetables. The pile of flesh that had been the drunk wasn't a friend or a person or anyone, it was just...food. Food that couldn't even run away or fight back. Nothing sick about it.

Except that it _was_ a person, a person that he _killed, _and he _knew_ that ninja killed bad guys all the time, and the man was a bad guy, but after he killed him he _ate_ him and _that was __**not**__**okay.**_

"Yes," the Hokage said, watching him with serious eyes. "But you didn't attack Hinata."

Naruto blinked, "Of course not."

"Were you aware that Hinata wouldn't attack you?"

"Y-Yeah? ...But it was Hinata! Why would I - ?"

"Naruto, the point of these questions is to make sure you aren't a danger to Konoha nin. We want to have you as a genin, but if you can't control yourself, it's going to be hard to have you as a shinobi," Iruka said gently.

"More to the point, you will have to be monitored and confined for the safety of Konoha," the Hokage said around his pipe.

Naruto blinked tears out of his eyes, feeling the combination of every insult aimed at him gather into a lead weight inside his chest. "I'm sorry," he said thickly, "I didn't mean to. I've been eating animals and the lunches Hinata-chan prepares for me - "

"You know Hinata?" Sarutobi asked.

"Ah, they're friends at school," Iruka interjected.

"I see… She knows the secret?" A puff of smoke escaped his nostrils.

Naruto nodded.

"Let her in," the Hokage called, and after about a minute, the door to the room opened.

Hinata shuffled in, keeping her face hidden between her sleeves and bangs. Naruto managed to give a wave, and she cracked a smile in return.

"Hyuuga-san," the Sandaime said, "Please take a seat."

The only place to sit, besides the floor, was the bed, so she awkwardly made her way over to sit at the foot of it, and Naruto nudged her with his foot.

"Hey."

"Hi."

And then the story began. How the Yondaime, in a few short seconds, sealed the fate of an infant Naruto Uzumaki. How Naruto's cravings for meat were explained by the demon living in his belly.

How Naruto spent a period of every day controlling Konoha's wildlife population. How Hinata had caught him. How she was the only one Naruto had ever shared this problem with.

"It's evident from what you've said that this is something you've been dealing with for a while. But Hinata is right - one, or even two meals a day isn't enough. And we can't let you around other Academy students when there's the risk of your eating habits being spotted, anymore. This must remain a secret."

"B-But I want to be a ninja!" Naruto said, voice getting squeaky again. Hinata put her hand on his foot - the best reassuring gesture she could make with the arrangements they were in - but for some reason, when he looked at her, he didn't look comforted.

"And you will be. But I will assign you a private teacher; one that can handle the Kyuubi's energy. This way, there won't be any concern about exposing your secret," the Hokage said calmly.

Naruto's shoulders slumped, though it looked to be more relief than anything else.

[-M-]

The name of Naruto's mysterious teacher was not revealed to him, but he was free of the hospital within two hours of waking up. At the crossroads that went off in the different directions the kids would have to take to get home, Hinata and Naruto said their goodbyes.

"I'll see you tomorrow, Naruto-kun. Before school, like always." The girl said steadily, putting a hand on his shoulder.

"No."

Her breath caught in her throat. 'Why not?'

"Hinata, you saw what happened. What I did. I can't - I'm a monster." Naruto shook his head. He was shaking. Hinata could hear the hitch in his voice that she'd learned about just today, that meant that he was about to cry. "I can't be friends with you. You're too nice for me." And with that, he turned away from her and ran the road to his apartment.

Hinata swayed, finding it hard to stand without support. That was it? That was the extent to which she and Naruto would ever know each other? And the deciding factor, the thing that had pushed him away in the end, was that she was too nice?

She sniffed. Tried not to cry. Turned away from where she could still see the speck of his yellow hair in the distance and ran back the way they'd come, past the hospital and its gardens, into the woods behind it. Running through the wood here wasn't fun at all. There were brambles and poky rocks and twigs on the path that dug into the soles of her old sandals. She tripped over a big rock, once, and got the wind knocked out of her so she had to walk for the rest of the journey into the forest.

This was it. The only person in the world who cared about what happened to her, and he'd said she was too nice. She always seemed to be 'too' something. Too shy, too quiet, too clumsy, too soft. Too little.

She followed her ears to a stream and soaked her feet in it, washing the dirt off, not surprised to find some blood as well. The cuts on her toes and knees weren't closed, but they were free of dust and bits of leaves, glistening cleanly at her. She rolled onto her back, pulled a knee up to her mouth and ran her tongue over the broken skin. Metal and salt. That's all it was. No big deal. Especially not if Naruto was attacking animals. Especially not if Naruto was attacking that man.

She closed her eyes and breathed in the smell of wet dirt and water. Why was being nice such a bad thing? She just wanted everyone to be okay. Naruto most of all.

But he wanted her to be okay, too. And after seeing how bad he could be, he was probably just trying to fix things. He was too bad for her.

_'Well, fine,'_ Hinata thought. _'I can be badder.'_

She got up and dusted off her pants - then, realizing that's what all good girls did, because they did not get dirty, deliberately kept them stained. Then she began walking back.

[-M-]

Naruto woke up to the feeling of another body pressed against his, and looked down to find Hinata - hair mussed, face dirty and still asleep - lying on top of him in a sort-of hug. He half hoped this meant she hadn't listened to him.

"H-Hinata?"

Her eyes opened slowly, and she fixed him with a frown, "I am not too nice!"

"Why are you in my room?" he asked.

"Because you said I was too nice, and...that's a stupid reason not to be friends!" she said angrily, still not getting off of him. "And...and I'm not getting off of you until you apologize!"

"I'm sorry," he said, very confused, "Can you get off now? My arm's getting pins n' needles."

"Oh, okay. Sorry." She climbed off and let him massage the feeling back into his arm, staring at him.

He stared back at her.

"I...I still wanna be friends," she mumbled. "I really like being your friend, Naruto."

He swallowed, "I like being your friend, too, Hinata. But I eat people."

"I don't care." Hinata stared hard at him. "I'll be scarier."

He gaped, "Okay."

"Okay?"

"Yeah."

They blinked at each other for a few moments before Hinata tackled him back onto his bed in a hug. He returned it, tight, liking the feel of someone being this close. She smelled icky, like sweat and dirt, but he didn't really care right now.

"If I'm being mean..." Hinata whispered, and then her fingers found his ribs.

"H-Hey!" Naruto said, kicking at her to get her to stop tickling him, "That's dirty!"

"That's ninja," Hinata corrected with a smile and pounced on him again.

...

...

A/N: Maybe _this_ time it will be dark? I want to make something scary and sexy. Immutare goes too far into being sweet. Though this chapter's already too cute. Hmph.

Please review.


	2. Chapter 2

"Well, finally, you guys did it."

Hinata looked up from the hangnail she'd been attempting to twist off to stare impassively at Iruka, who was grinning at the class. Around her, twenty-one sixteen-year-olds ceased any conversations they'd been having to face their instructor solemnly, some barely managing to hold back accomplished smiles. She gingerly touched the _hitai-ate_ around her neck and allowed herself to bask in the sense of accomplishment. It had taken time and a weird amount of planning on her part to ensure her place as the almost-dead-last (second only to Shikamaru Nara), but she'd done it, and graduated on her practical results alone, deliberately sleeping through every paper exam. Who would have thought that being the worst took this much calculating?

"Tomorrow is the last-minute re-take for anyone who just needs a second try, so come the day after that for your cell assignments." Iruka said with a smile. "I'm excited to be working with you."

She stood and bowed in thanks with the rest of the class, then walked as fast as she could to the exit. In the yard outside there was a small mob of family members to congratulate the new ninja. There would not be any Hyuuga among them.

Shortly after her decision to outshine Naruto in being scary and uncouth, her grades descended rapidly, as per the image's requirement. Along with them went her family's acceptance of her. Her swearing, unladylike behavior and hanging out with Naruto (which was really the entire point, so she could hardly stop _that)_ was the last straw, and in one dramatic afternoon, she'd been disowned. Just to spite them, she took Naruto's last name - which resulted in her reputation as the 'demon's whore'. Not much of an insult, seeing that that was exactly what she was hoping would happen one of these days.

'_Speaking of,'_ Hinata thought. Her lips curved into a smile and she pounced, almost tipping the unsuspecting boy over. "Hello," she said into his ear, very pleased when it changed to a slight shade of pink. She could hardly fulfil her role as a harlot without looking the part - this shirt bared her midriff and emphasized the size of her breasts, and had the added benefit of making Naruto blush every time she hugged him.

"You passed, then?" he said, taking her arms off him and stepping away after a quick hug.

"Of course," she smirked.

"Great. I promised you cinnamon buns if you graduated, right? Or did you want something else?"

She shook her head, "Cinnamon buns. Or, you know…" she leaned closer to him, "You could treat me to - "

" - Cinnamon buns." Naruto deadpanned. "Stop doing weird things. Come on."

At least he took her hand.

[-M-]

Naruto reclined into the booth of the confectionary, idly squeezing Hinata's ankles when she put her feet in his lap. For the moment, things were quiet as Hinata ate - though she did liven it up a little by winking and suggestively licking sugar off her lip and fingers every once in a while.

"Try some." Hinata held out two fingers dripping frosting and he took them into his mouth, more to humor her than for the sweet. He'd been getting less and less enthusiastic about real, 'human' food since about two weeks ago, in addition to an even better ability to smell and other sensory enhancements. He still wasn't sure what this meant for him and was reluctant to bring it up with the Hokage in case another examination of the seal was done and they found something this time. He didn't want to be separated from the small bit of normalcy he was allowed.

"_Guagh!"_ He glared at Hinata and pushed her foot away from his stomach. "What?"

"Pay attention to me!" she whined. "I haven't seen you for a week."

"We saw each other this morning," he said, resuming his massaging of her ankles.

"That doesn't count. Both of us were too tired to talk. Tell me how it went."

"I was with a T&I unit at a base, and they had some uncooperative captives."

She sucked more frosting off her finger and Naruto unintentionally followed the movement of her throat. "Are you leaving again anytime soon?"

"Dunno."

"See if you can't latch onto my team or something," Hinata grinned, picking up her paper bowl and tossing it into the trash, then pulling him out of his seat and determinedly putting her hand around his waist, letting his go to her shoulder.

"I wanna see if I can't go into assassination. I'm tired of…" He paused, kicking a large rock out of their way.

"Tired of hearing them scream?" Hinata guessed. Though her tone was mild, her grip on his waist was much harder than necessary.

He didn't answer. Truthfully, that wasn't even a problem. Exactly the opposite; he liked it _too_ much.

"Naruto." Hinata was glaring at him. "Talk to me."

Ever since T&I had taken over his life, about four years ago, they'd been seeing each other less and less. Hinata followed the plan laid out for every academy student, and he...didn't have that luxury. From the age of twelve, he'd been getting acclimated to the grim, dark environment of Konoha's messiest operatives. The higher-ups had mistakenly thought that such early exposure to death and killing would have dulled his morals somehow; for his first experience, they'd invited him into a corner of a cell, placed a genjutsu over him so their captive wouldn't notice the boy, and proceeded to slowly, surely get what they needed from the enemy. His first time getting information himself was biting the fingers off a Rain-nin for the name of the leader of a terrorist group in the area. It quickly became a favorite of Ibiki, the head of the department, the combined pain and sight of him eating usually enough to push anyone over the edge.

"Is it classified?" Hinata asked.

"...No."

"Then why won't you tell me? I feel like we never talk anymore."

Because she was still so _clean._ A better sense of smell was no help in T&I, where the stench of piss, shit, sweat and vomit permeated the place, even through the two-foot-thick concrete walls. Blood always smelled delicious to him, but the surroundings spoiled it every time. Hinata still smelled like soap and perfume.

The reminder made him leisurely lean into her and press his face into her hair until his lips brushed her ear. The scent of flowers invaded his senses; his grip on her tightened.

"Naruto?" Her voice was firm, which was disappointing.

If there was ever a time when he didn't want to talk, proximity would usually be enough to distract her. He'd only had to kiss her once, when they were fourteen and she noticed how mopey he'd been getting. He wasn't sad anymore, just tired. And now Hinata was getting drawn into the whole thing as well, though not into T&I - he'd pulled some strings with the Hokage to keep her out of there, even though Ibiki had been hoping to get his hands on the 'ruthless' and 'amoral' Hinata Uzumaki.

"I'm thinking…" he said into her ear, feeling her shiver at his breath.

"About?" Her voice was admirably clear. Sometimes he could get her to stutter again, like when they were kids.

"Not anything in particular."

They were nearing their apartment, still pressed closer together than he'd anticipated they ever would be. Hinata's offer of (and request for, with occasional pleading) sex had been something he'd laughed off in his earlier years, but now - she fished for the key among a chain; he watched her breath catch when his hands moved down from her shoulders to her bare waist and settled on her hips, pulling back until her ass met his groin - it was a little different.

"N-Naruto - "

"Hinata-_chan,"_ he whispered, "I..._really _like this shirt." He looped a finger through the strap of her bra and lowered it, kissing the raw skin underneath.

"You're teasing again." Her voice was full of bravado, and he was unsettled by the fact that he couldn't tell if it was real or not. "This isn't going to go anywhere, and you're just trying to distract me."

"Hinata," he tried, but she shook her head, turning to face him after she unlocked the door and stepped inside.

"No. I want you to get this through your thick head: I _love _you. As a friend, and as - " she carefully placed the key on its hook by the door, nervously looking at it instead of him, " - as _more._ But fine. You don't want to talk to me. _Fine."_ She kicked off her shoes and left to shower.

He stared after her for a moment, then went to get an extra pillow and blanket for a night on the couch, since it didn't look like sharing a bed would be the healthy thing to do right now.

[-M-]

"Sorry, Naruto, but your addition to T&I has given us a great increase in information. We can't replace you," the Hokage said with a frown. In front of him, Naruto tightened his fists inside his pockets before nodding.

"_Wakari,_ Hokage-_sama._ I understand."

The old man observed the youth in front of him. This Naruto was far from the perky, bright child that had driven Iruka insane with his pranks. Now the boy was tall, solemn and looked like he needed a good night's sleep. It was never a good sign when someone from T&I had undereye circles that dark.

Taking the silence as dismissal, the blonde began to leave.

"Hold on," Sarutobi waved him back, "We can't transfer you, but I think a small break from interrogation might do you some good."

The boy hesitated, "I couldn't do that," he said finally, "I don't have enough money saved up to just take time off."

"That's not quite what I was thinking. You can accompany Team Seven on their escort mission to Wave, with payment."

"Isn't that...Hinata's team?"

"Yes," the older ninja said with a smile, "It would do you good, I think. And it would alleviate some concerns of ours if you could look around while you were there."

The teen's eyes sharpened, "What concerns?"

"The client's records are outdated. We asked for more recent ones but he claimed they'd been lost in a fire."

"Wave…" Naruto's frown deepened. "Isn't that the country with that gangster monopolizing everything?"

The Hokage shifted his pipe to the opposite corner of his mouth, "So it is. Giving us quite some trouble with getting shipments and employ over there, too."

"He's bound to have some muscle under his employ. You're sending three genin into that?" Naruto asked incredulously.

"Team Seven is never to come in contact with any threats. It's a C-rank mission," the old man assured, "And they've already agreed to it." He gestured with his pipe, "You haven't met that team. They can be stubborn as mules."

Naruto huffed, "If the other two are anything like Hinata, I can imagine." He considered the dark-haired girl for a moment before turning back to the third, "So. What's the mission?"

"Accompany and assist Team Seven on their escort-and-guard mission into Wave. Once there, gather information about Gato, the one behind the monopoly over industries." The Hokage benignly filled in the necessary information on the slip that would grant the Uzumaki exit from the village. "And if the opportunity arises, kill him."

…

…

A/N: Possibly unclear differences are: graduate from Academy 16 & Caged Bird Seal doesn't exist.


	3. Chapter 3

At the very least, thought Sasuke, _one_ of his teammates wasn't a complete loss.

Hinata Uzumaki, resident dead-last, was pushy and had a mean streak, but she, thankfully, almost went out of her way to make sure he knew she wasn't one of his fangirls. And, to his knowledge, her practicals had been fairly good as well; the only reason her grades were so low was that her paper tests had all gotten zeros (she'd slept through every one, and kicked the proctor when he'd bothered her about it). Really, he'd expected Shikamaru Nara to be the last person on their team, what with having barely-passing scores for both his paper tests _and _his practicals, but he'd been assigned to a cell with Ino - no envy there.

Sakura Haruno, on the other hand, batted her eyes and twirled a lock of hair the color of sugar floss around a finger. "Sasuke-_kun, _how about once we get to Wave, we go on a _date?"_

From where she was sitting with her arms and legs crossed testily, Uzumaki called out, "Where the hell's our sensei?"

"How am _I_ supposed to know?" Sakura growled back to her, "Why don't you _look_ for him, white-eyes?" Uzumaki seemed to consider this for a moment before she stood and activated her bloodline, stared straight ahead for a few moments, then released her hand-sign and continued looking ahead, face blank. Sakura blinked, "Well?"

"Er. Sensei's nowhere nearby," she said distractedly, then combed her bangs and unzipped her shirt to show her usual amount of cleavage. Sasuke deliberately looked away, lest either one catch him observing and the two begin arguing as they usually did.

Footsteps caught his attention and he turned back to the road to see a blonde chuunin jogging up to them. Hinata seemed flustered, shifting from side to side and alternating her gaze from the ground to the blonde to some point behind him.

"Um. Hello," he said. "My name is Naruto Uzumaki. I'm meant to accompany you on your mission. I thought I'd be a bit early, but you're here, so I must be late, ne?"

"What time were you supposed to show up?" Sasuke questioned.

"Nine. Why?" The ninja blinked as various expressions of rage appeared on the genin in front of him. "Your sensei doesn't happen to be - "

"Ah, Naruto-kun, there you are!" Kakashi Hatake called from where he approached, client in tow.

"Yep." The blonde sighed. "Hey, Kakashi. Still doing _this."_ It wasn't so much a question as a sigh.

"_Baka-_sensei! We've been here since six-forty-five!" Hinata barked, pointing a dark fingernail in the jounin's direction.

"Well, you see, a bat got into my house, and I was afraid of catching rabies, so I had to exit and wait for the authorities to get rid of it," Kakashi said with a smile.

"You...are...the authorities," Sakura growled under her breath.

Behind Kakashi, Tazuna scratched his scalp beneath his hat and gingerly shook the blonde shinobi's hand as he introduced himself.

[-M-]

"Say, Uzumaki-san," Sakura asked, "Are you and Hinata related?"

"No," came the reply from both Naruto and Hinata.

"Then why do you two have the same last name?"

"It's, ah, not my story to tell, Haruno-san." The whisker-faced ninja replied, then continued walking in silence.

"Is it me, or is there some tension between the blonde and Miss Gloom-and-Doom?" the old man asked her, and she had to give an affirmative hum.

Ever since they'd left, Hinata had kept ahead of the group, managing to not only stay quiet (a feat Sakura had thought was impossible for the compulsive loudmouth) but also walk with a sway to her hips that she, personally, knew was difficult to do for much more than a block. That she'd kept it up for this long was impressive. Sakura smelled a crush.

The sun had come up a while ago, so each of them was perspiring slightly under their equipment, and the dark-haired Uzumaki used this to her advantage, slipping off her jacket under her pack and tying it around her waist, not exposing any skin, but definitely emphasizing the curve of her hips with the clingy top she'd worn underneath. (Stupid early bloomers.)

"Sensei," Sasuke said urgently.

"I know," Kakashi replied calmly, "But this is a training exercise. Just give it a minute and let's see if anyone else catches on."

Sakura looked around for whatever it was she was supposed to focus on before finally spotting the puddle the other girl was about to step over. _"Hina - !"_

Where Hinata was before, there were only parts.

"_One down…"_ came a voice, accompanied by the clinking of chains.

A terrible feeling rose up in Sakura, which she vaguely recognized as killer intent, and then was quickly dominated by the same, only heavier, _angrier, _the source of which was a snarling Naruto Uzumaki. Before anyone could move, one clawed hand extended to fasten on the throat of one of the aggressors, then _pulling_ and spraying gore all over the attacker, Uzumaki and everything else.

There were two solid beats of silence before Kakashi's "Well, _that_ was dramatic."

Sakura blinked, looking over to find Sasuke and Hinata standing over the tied up form of the second enemy, the white-eyed girl staring impassively at the relieved expression on the blonde's face. Pieces of wood lay where, previously, she'd thought Hinata's remains were.

"Idiot! Don't scare us like that!" she yelled at the other girl, who didn't even flinch in response.

"You're okay?" the chuunin asked, voice even more tired than usual, and Hinata nodded.

"Brother!" yelled the bound ninja, tears forming as he looked at the slumped figure of his partner. "Damn it! You'll _pay_ for that!"

"I don't think I will," the blue-eyed male said coldly in response, pulling his vest off and dropping it in a small patch of clean grass while glaring at the downed man. "Kakashi, this is my area of expertise. You go on, I'll catch up."

Sensei nodded, and gestured for them all to continue, stepping neatly over the pooling blood near the corpse of the man who'd attacked Hinata.

Said girl made no move to follow. "Sensei, I'd like to stay and observe."

"No, you wouldn't." Uzumaki's gaze was steady as he met hers.

"You don't have the authority to order me around!"

"Actually, I do. That's what this vest means." Naruto pointed to the article of clothing lying to his left. "You're going on with your team."

"That decision would be mine to make, seeing as I'm her sensei and the leader of this mission," Kakashi said mildly. "Hinata can stay and observe the interrogation. Hopefully, you can work out whatever issues the two of you have. The rest, come with me."

That meant her. Sakura carefully walked around the patches of stained ground behind the client, glad to be moving away from where the two Uzumaki were glaring at each other hard enough to make something combust.

[-M-]

"I'm not giving away shit!"

"Shut the fuck up." Naruto punched the nin in the eye, not making any effort to keep the boniest part of his knuckle from digging into the soft hollow in the skull and probably dealing heavy damage to the ocular organ, then stomping on his shin for good measure. "You'll talk when I tell you to."

He raised his eyebrows when Hinata extended a handkerchief to him. "You've got blood all over you."

"Chances are that's not going to improve in the next hour or so," he sighed. "If you want to watch, sit over there." He gestured to where his blood-spattered vest lay and she obeyed, hovering a moment before seating herself.

"'Kay, attention off the pretty girl and on me," he said to the missing-nin, bloodlust pouring out through his words. The ninja flinched when he loomed closer. "I can smell your fear. You can tell I'm not human, can't you?"

"Then what the hell are you?"

"Strike two," Naruto grinned, and pressed a hand charged with malevolent chakra to the ninja's face, over the closing eye, licking his lips when the subject cried out. Already, he could taste the fear and pain of the man, and they hadn't even done anything particularly interesting yet.

"I-I've been through worse." The missing-nin hacked out a glob of saliva, tinted red.

"I don't doubt that," purred Naruto, smiling back at him. "So we won't be playing that game today. This one's easier: you want to kill me. I want to be fair and give you that chance. So you choose between your life and giving me information about your employer. You pick the second one, you live to fight another day. You don't, I'll just kill you here." He could've done worse, but Hinata was here. As much as explaining everything to her via this demonstration would've been simpler he didn't want to traumatize her anymore than she would be, anyway.

"Why would I make a deal with the person who killed my brother?"

"It's not so much a deal as a survival attempt on your part," Naruto said mildly as he removed the ninja's gauntlet, revealing a pale hand that twitched at the breeze. Then, giving the man another smile, he bit down, long teeth easily tearing through both flesh and bone, an alarmed scream echoing the sound.

Naruto deliberately licked the ichor from his lips, smiling even as it dripped down his chin and onto his shirt. He'd gone with black today, which was typical. White went out of style quickly in T&I.

"Wh-Wh - "

"Take your time." He ran his tongue over his teeth. "It's an important decision."

"Whadyouwann'know?"

Naruto smiled.

[-M-]

In the end, blood loss won over common sense, and Naruto sealed the remains of both opponents into a scroll before he hosed off with a jutsu from a clone and accepted his vest solemnly from Hinata.

They were silent as they began running after Kakashi's group, until Naruto gave in and asked.

"Well?"

"You really think I'm pretty?"

Naruto blinked and tried to think of something to say in response, but the laugh that was bubbling up inside his throat came out first.

"Naruto," Hinata sobered after joining him, "I promised you that I didn't care, didn't I?"

"It's...different...than it was before." He said slowly. "It's not really about 'food' now. It's about hurting people. Scaring them." And worrying about whether the satisfaction he felt when doing those things was dangerous or not.

"That's our job, though, isn't it?" Hinata questioned. "We're ninja. We're all about hurting and scaring."

Naruto smiled wryly. "I used to think we were heroes, y'know?"

"We are," Hinata nodded, "To the village. To each other. You need anything else?"

Her gaze remained on the path in front of her, hair fanning out behind her as the wind resistance pushed it back. Even though her pale jacket was spattered with blood and she had a small cut on her cheek from the earlier skirmish, her eyes were bright, mouth curved up in a smile. He slowed down, taking her arm and making her turn to face him, eyebrows pushed together to create a little frown above her nose.

He pressed his mouth to hers, keeping his lips pressed tightly together to prevent any gagging on her part from the taste of raw flesh. When he pulled away, she was frozen, staring at him like she didn't believe he was actually there.

"No. I really don't."

[-M-]

Hinata was unusually silent as the party drifted in secret to Tazuna's final destination, probably making Kakashi worry, but she wasn't very concerned with that right now.

Naruto had only kissed her once before, and that, she knew now, was to distract her, not for any other reason. Most of his displays of affection were to make her drop the subject or forget what it was she was talking about, which had required she (attempt to) push her feelings for him back. It never really worked, which was why he usually got away with using touches and cuddles to kill any conversations he didn't want to participate in. But _this_ time…

She touched her lips and looked in front of her at the spiky mess of blonde hair that rotated as the demon container observed the foggy scenery.

This time it was different.

No distractions, no twisting her words or suddenly walking away from the situation. That was a _real_ kiss. It was… It was _amazing_ is what it was. Well, not the kiss itself. Naruto's breath stank of blood and he'd kept his hands on her shoulders, like a schoolteacher adjusting posture and not a boyfriend, but it had been a _real kiss. _He'd _meant_ for that to be romantic, and it sort of was.

The object of her affection turned and gave a small smile when he caught her staring, making her blush and turn away quickly, covering her neck so that he couldn't see it spread down to her chest. One bad thing about being pale - in addition to burning really easily under sun - was a really obvious indicator for emotions. Thank God she only blushed when she got _really_ angry and not when she was just irked, otherwise she'd be screwed in regards to all the arguments she got into with Sakura.

"How much longer?" Naruto asked. She didn't know whether to be glad for how perky he seemed when talking to others or worried about him feeling the need to cover things up. When the two of them were alone, he always sounded tired. It had ceased to be an indicator of his energy level by now, and more of an indicator of his comfort level. She was proud to say that she was the only one his voice reached sounding even a little bit tired. Everyone else received some peppy mask, and no-one ever seemed to look through it enough to really notice the undereye circles and how the muscle in his jaw jumped when someone was _really_ pushing it.

"Fifteen minutes," replied the man who'd been steering under his breath.

"Take my seat, Sakura-san. You get a better view. Well, as good as you can, in this fog," Naruto said brightly to the pinkette sitting beside him, before carefully standing and stepping backwards in the little boat, setting himself down in front of Hinata and leaning so his back rested against her shins.

In addition to mostly using touching to distract her, Naruto tended to only do it when they were alone or around strangers, to dissuade rumors. That he was doing it around her teammates and sensei - ! She quickly turned back to the water and resumed her position of covering her neck with her hand, trying to breathe deeply and soothe away the immense blush that had started up, particularly since he'd looped one arm through the opening between her calf and the seat and was now gripping her knee...possessively? She could count that as possessive, right? Naruto was being _possessive_ over her!

"Hinata, your heartbeat's almost doubled, are you alright?" Kakashi asked cheerfully.

The attention of everyone in the boat turned to her - except for Kakashi, who blissfully turned away from her death glare. _'I'll get you for that, cyclops-sensei,' _she thought to herself as Sakura sent her a smirk. She pressed a hand she'd dipped in the river to her face to try and cool down her cheeks. Gods, she hated that she blushed this easily.

Naruto was still staring at her after everyone had turned away, head bumping lightly against her with the rocking of the boat and his hair tickling her knees through her pants. Finally, he looked forward, making it safe to look back at him again - but then he turned up to face her and smiled widely when he caught sight of her red cheeks. She put her hands over his eyes to maybe get the message across that he was bugging her, but ended up in an even more compromising position when he pulled her hands down and pressed his lips to her palms in an imitation of a kiss, tired eyes glinting playfully at her through blonde locks the entire time.

She glanced around to check if anyone had seen - thankfully, everyone's attention was focused on their surroundings instead, though she suspected Kakashi knew more of what was going on than his perverted giggles gave away.

Was Naruto still looking at her? - Yes. Jeez, why couldn't he look somewhere else for a moment? Come to think of it, that was just about the least flattering angle anyone could _possibly _look at her from. If she looked down, he'd see a double chin. But if she didn't, he could see up her nose, and that was even worse. She turned away from him to the murky surroundings, leaning slightly to maybe catch a glimpse of her reflection in the water. It was no good, though - the best she could see was a bit of her nose and bangs.

Soon enough, they arrived on the sandy shores of the island Tazuna's village was on, and began making their slow trek inland after paying the man who'd gotten them across the water, Naruto walking innocently next to her as if he hadn't spent the last fifteen minutes-or-so staring at her and then laughing whenever she turned red.

That was just about the last pleasant moment before everything turned bad.

[-M-]

Kakashi could piece together the basics of what was going on, especially since the Hokage had warned him that he was taking his team into what was considered a 'danger zone', and that Naruto was tagging along more because he had his own mission in the same area than anything else. Until the attack by the Demon Brothers, he hadn't thought much of continuing on - it was a mission, and even if it was more dangerous than most, these genin had had four more years than other countries' rookies to prepare, and more than double that if you were comparing them to wartime graduates. And they had a jinchuuriki's support, besides.

Naruto's reaction and the small performance in the boat was unexpected. He wouldn't have thought the Kyuubi's jinchuuriki was the type to go teasing girls, or that Hinata was the type to be easily teased, but there you go. Now the two of them were walking side-by-side like embarrassed lovers (well, the kunoichi was. The blonde Uzumaki was pretending to be watching his surroundings, but the way he favored the side she was on told that he was really more interested in her than the trees).

It was the Uchiha's sharp stare upward (once again; Kakashi berated himself for growing sloppy in his old age - he should have caught the trick with the puddle long before the sixteen-year-old had, not just around the same time) that alerted him to the creeping of killer intent. It was useful to not be so intimidated by it in battle, but the downside was that it was almost impossible to notice it unless it actually posed a threat to his functions. As is, he tended to overlook it, which had cost him on more than one mission, recently. Good thing he had three fresh genin to do the spotting for him.

"Hinata, take a look around," Kakashi said softly.

She obeyed, pausing with a bemused expression on her face. "I can't..." - her eyes widened -

_"Get down!"_ yelled the blonde, pulling the nearest of the company - which happened to be Hinata and Sasuke - down with him.

The genin and Tazuna looked around dazedly, eyes finally landing on an enormous cleaver sticking out of a tree long after Kakashi and Naruto had gotten up and into their battle stances.

"Give up the old man, Hatake, and the kids keep their lives," growled a voice from out of the mist. One second the space above the embedded blade was empty, the next it was taken up by a grizzled shinobi, half of whose face was covered in bandages.

"Momochi Zabuza," came Naruto's voice, "Demon of the Bloody Mist. Wanted in the bingo book for deserting Mist, and known to be the reason for the murder of nearly one hundred children during one of the darkest times in Mist's history."

"Give the kid a cookie," muttered the ninja, crossing his arms over his chest. "You done reciting my resume? Give me the old man, I have a job to do."

"So do we," Kakashi said, resting his hand on his hip, "It's to get him safely home."

"What happened to the two who were supposed to stop you first?"

Naruto waggled a scroll at eye level, "They met their sticky end." Kakashi noted that the blonde's pupils had dilated, and was alarmed for a second at the implication that he was _enjoying _basking in killing intent before he recognized that, idiot, adrenaline did that, too.

"Ah, did you do the job? You seem like the type."

"Don't flatter me. But tell me, how much is Gato promising you to finish him off?" Naruto nodded his head in Tazuna's direction. "And what are you threatening him with to make sure you get your cash?"

"I keep my business dealings private, brat. Say," the nin's eyes squinted in imitation of a smile, "Aren't you Uzumaki? I've heard about you. You're just as bloodthirsty as me, but in the literal sense, am I right?"

It was Naruto's turn to cross his arms, "What've you heard?"

"Just the insane stuff. Some bastard escaped from Konoha's T&I a few years ago - they hunted him down, but not before he spilled the beans on Konoha's top interrogator." Zabuza's head tilted. "The _Cannibal."_

Naruto shrugged, "Guy's gotta eat."

Zabuza burst out laughing, "I think I like you. T's a shame..."

"So you won't let us pass?"

"What do you think?"

His genin got into battle stances, readied their weapons. Kakashi straightened his hitai-ate, and opened one red eye.


	4. Chapter 4

Zabuza made the first move, jumping from his perch atop the giant cleaver and yanking it out of the tree with a slight roll of his shoulder, then leaping over Sasuke and Naruto - the first line of defense - straight to where Sakura and Hinata had lined up side-by-side to defend Tazuna. The girls reacted quickly, aiming strikes at the missing-nin's shoulder and knee - or so they thought, actually just hitting an afterimage, and were both thrown bodily from the old man, Sakura being the unlucky ninja who received a gash straight down her torso from Zabuza's blade.

Pearls of red sprayed over Tazuna, who - licked the droplets off his cheek and disappeared in a cloud of smoke to reveal a smirking blonde. The cannibal grasped the hilt of the enemy ninja's sword and used Zabuza's instinctual pull away to land a double kick to his breastbone, Sasuke looping ninja wire around the prone man while he was preoccupied. The Uchiha didn't wait for Naruto to be clear before sending a stream of flames down the wire (hopefully because he knew Naruto could make the jump that fast from his automatic swap with the bridge builder and not because he genuinely did not give a fuck). The resulting splash of water slapped hard against the ninja's faces.

"_Very_ good," Zabuza crooned through the bandages covering his face.

"_Mizu Bunshin,"_ Naruto spat. Sasuke slicked his now-soaked bangs away from his forehead and mirrored the blonde's scowl. Across the small clearing where the battle was taking place, the real Tazuna and Hinata gathered around Sakura's bleeding form, the dark-haired kunoichi pulling open her dress despite protests, and began pressing her own jacket against the large gash that, from what Naruto could see, stretched down from the girl's collarbone, between her breasts, to the lower ribs on her opposite side. She'd struck him as the type to value her appearance; that scar would haunt her.

"What sort of ninja takes on children?" Kakashi's image taunted, while the original dealt two fast strikes to Zabuza's side, only to have to dodge a deadly swing from his sword.

"Children? Konoha brats graduate at sixteen, don't they?" Zabuza replied, "Four extra years - we didn't have that luxury. Would've thought you'd agree, Kakashi."

"What's he talking about?" Sasuke asked.

"After the war, Konoha was the strongest village, and everyone else was struggling to recover. We had the resources to train our ninja until sixteen, but other villages needed them to enter the force at twelve - at latest - to hurry up and take missions for funding," Naruto explained.

"There are chuunin out there younger than us?" The possibility seemed to almost disgust the dark-haired boy.

"Yes, a few, in between all the dead and insane ones," Naruto replied, "Sending kids out to kill before puberty doesn't do anything good for development." He'd know that from experience.

"We're not here to argue the pros and cons of Konoha's educational system." Kakashi said, red eye glaring out at the missing-nin. Sasuke looked like he'd seen a ghost.

"I thought that was it," Zabuza said, hefting his sword onto his shoulder. _"Sharingan no Kakashi._ Honored to be worthy enough to see it."

"All foes fall before this eye," Kakashi said evenly, and leaped to intercept the nin before he could make his way to Tazuna again.

"All but one," Zabuza drawled, kicking Kakashi back, towards a stream off to the side of the clearing. The silver-haired jounin landed in the water with, if it was possible, a calculated splash, indicating his plan to regroup beneath the surface.

"That was a bad move. Zabuza has a water affinity," Naruto said beneath his breath. Sure enough, within several seconds, Kakashi was trapped within a water prison. "Great."

"Any ideas?" Sasuke asked.

"We need to snap his control." With a hand sign, Naruto made a team of clones, four of which ran at the enemy screaming profanities shrilly. Sasuke resisted the urge to pop every one of the blondes near him, which ended up being a good choice because as soon as Zabuza's attention was off the remaining boys, the chuunin whispered a plan to the black-eyed teenager.

"You brats are really testing my patience," growled the missing-nin, dodging when a shuriken the size of a bicycle tire flew at him from the direction of the Uchiha.

"You really should work on that, then," Naruto said with a smile from behind the swordsman, clutching the twin of the weapon Sasuke had just thrown.

"What - ?" This time the weapon came in from a much closer range, causing the man to pull back his arm from the sphere of water around Kakashi unless he wanted it severed, and releasing the jutsu.

"Nicely done," Kakashi murmured, shaking the water out of his hair.

"I'm not finished yet, Kakashi," Zabuza growled, "Don't forget, we're still in _my_ element."

"How can I, with you chattering about it like a monkey?" the jounin scoffed, mirroring the bandaged nin's hand signs as they appeared.

"In this game, it's the fastest who wins!" Zabuza shouted back with a maniacal smile. "Your skills aren't - !"

Kakashi didn't wait for him to finish. _"Water Style: Giant Waterfall!"_

An enormous wave rose up, dousing everything in the area, bending trees backwards, uprooting small shrubs and popping a fair amount of Naruto's clones, but, more importantly, throwing their adversary into a tree hard enough to probably crack a few bones.

"Was that...Zabuza's technique?" Naruto blinked.

"The Sharingan can copy any technique perfectly," Sasuke supplied, "And if the user is skilled enough, it can predict movements."

"So Kakashi predicted the final hand signs and chakra release."

"That eye…" Zabuza didn't have much time to come to grips with the Sharingan's power, however, because not two seconds afterwards, his neck was pierced by two long senbon.

Naruto's eyes followed their path to rest on a masked figure standing on the branch of a nearby tree. "Hunter-nin?"

The mask nodded. Before anyone could say anything, the stranger grabbed the unconscious Zabuza and body-flickered away.

A groan alerted them to Kakashi's collapse and Naruto had to quickly run over to prevent him drowning in the knee-deep pool of water he'd been standing in. A pretty pathetic death for a ninja that just unleashed a watery hell on all his surroundings. Everybody was soaked, and all the sand they'd been standing in had become mud.

"Sasuke, take Kakashi. He's chakra-exhausted, so his body's trying to refuel with sleep right now. Keep some energy bars in your pocket to give to him when he wakes up." Naruto watched the teen heave the older nin onto his back, "You look a little pale, so eat one, too. Keep your blood sugar steady."

Then he walked over to the small group around Sakura, "How is she?"

"Loopy and cold," replied Hinata.

"Her pulse is super weak," Tazuna added.

"Lungs?"

"Working fine. Bones are all intact, too. Well…" Hinata paused, "Her chest expands correctly. Maybe a few are scratched, though."

"All right, let's get her out of here." A leftover clone became a functioning stretcher, with two more carefully moving the pinkette onto the thing and lifting it cautiously.

"You two, eat one of these," Naruto said, tossing Hinata and the old man two energy bars. As they obeyed, Naruto looked again at the girl who was murmuring dazedly to herself on the cot.

"On second thought, Sasuke, give me Kakashi. You walk next to Sakura, hold her hand, keep her talking." He took the inert man from the pale boy carefully, "Don't complain. This is about making sure she lives. Just keep her awake."

And so the company began walking onward, Tazuna and Hinata walking slowly to accommodate the rest, and Sasuke uncomfortably holding Sakura's clammy hand and listening to her recite the shinobi rules for him.

[-M-]

Once everyone was mostly settled, Naruto retreated to a quiet corner of the dock surrounding Tazuna's house to pull a limb out of his sealing scroll and mull over the events of that day while chewing through Mist-nin flesh. The meat had a peculiar, dull taste - possibly a bad diet or substance abuse, but it was what he'd be eating for the next week or so. He was out of the house as soon as Kakashi was well enough to direct his team, off to wherever it was that Gato kept his documents and other important things.

He had a hunch that the mobster might've picked up a few things Konoha might appreciate, and so stealing was on his agenda, as well. He typically carried sealing scrolls around with him, to keep his kills fresh, but they'd do for regular items, too.

After he'd finished licking the stain off his hands (his pants were already ruined, sure, but that was no reason to get them dirtier), he re-sealed the fare into the scroll and went back inside, wanting to pack the thing back into his vest and then probably take a shower. Maybe see if Tazuna had a washer that he could use.

He was surprised to find Sasuke Uchiha watching the unconscious Hatake, a bowl of partly-finished rice and vegetables in his hands.

"He doin' alright?"

"He's been my teacher for almost a month. He never once mentioned the Sharingan."

Naruto racked his brains for his spotty understanding of Konoha history. Hatake's, he knew. Bastard-sensei had been his student, and there wasn't a single mention made of Kakashi that didn't have praise the man's bravery - the story of how he got his special eye had been told to Naruto more than once, nevermind that he felt uncomfortable hearing other people's secrets. "...Um. That's, uh, his business, you know?"

"It's my right to know," Sasuke shot an angry look at him, "The Sharingan belongs to the Uchiha."

"_That_ Sharingan," he pointed at the unconscious jounin, "Belongs to Kakashi Hatake."

"How did he get it?"

"He didn't _steal_ it if that's what you're asking. But, seriously, not gonna go handing out other people's histories for your peace of mind." At the boy's sullen expression, Naruto softened. "Look, every ninja has crap that they deal with. Grudges, relationshit, self-loathing - there's no-one in the world who knows it better than ninja. You gotta let people share when they're ready."

Sasuke remained quiet. Naruto sighed, "If you're _really_ curious, you can look at old mission reports. But don't go dragging people into the past for your own convenience. That messes people up."

"You...work at T&I, don't you?"

"Yeah."

"Why? You don't look much older than me."

"I'm not. I'm sixteen. There were...issues with me being in the Academy. So they set me up with an individual teacher. I graduated at twelve, like other Suna's ninja. Then I went to T&I."

"Did you choose to go?"

"No."

Sasuke looked at him with a frown. "Why did they send you there?" Naruto could imagine what he saw. A lanky, sleep-deprived teenager with a too-hoarse voice and apparently lots of empathy for people with sad backstories.

He shrugged, "Needed people."

"You were twelve."

The cannibal ran a hand through his hair, "It's not - I have a..._talent_ for scaring people. That's as far as we're gonna go into it."

"...Hinata knows, doesn't she? Your secret, whatever it is."

"Yeah."

Kakashi stirred, opened one eye. "Naruto."

"Hey, Hatake. I'll go get you some grub."

The silver-haired ninja looked to his student. "Sasuke. Did you need something?"

Naruto paused by the door, waiting for the boy's reply.

"No, sir."

In the hall, Sasuke gave him a measuring look. "Go take a shower. I'll get him some food."

"Remember what I said."

"I will." The boy shot him a look that was part annoyance, part curiousity, then moved in the direction of the kitchen.

[-M-]

"Hey."

Hinata looked up from the water to see a mostly-wet Naruto, plus towel around his neck, approaching her with a mug of what smelled like chamomile tea. She'd showered first and was now air-drying her hair out on the dock that surrounded Tazuna's home, dipping her toes in the cold water.

"Status?" she asked, sipping her tea.

He sat down next to her. "Sasuke's taking a shower. Tsunami got some soup in Sakura, and she's sleeping now. Kakashi woke up, ate two energy bars, a bowl of soup, two bowls of rice, a plate of pickled vegetables and fish, then went back to sleep."

"Have you eaten?"

"Yeah, before I showered. You?"

"Mhmm." She sipped at her tea again.

Naruto sighed and lay back onto the dock, putting his hands behind his head and closing his eyes.

"Today was intense," remarked Hinata, setting down the mug to look at him.

"Mhm."

Hinata lowered her eyes.

"You did fine." Naruto assured her, "Better than fine. You saved Sakura's life."

"It's like you and Sasuke were in a whole other league," she confessed, pulling her feet away from the water and wrapping her arms around her legs. "Sakura and I couldn't do anything."

"You'll get better. We have a week before anything with Zabuza happens again."

"I thought the Hunter-nin - "

" - That wasn't a Hunter-nin."

"The senbon…" Hinata turned to see Sasuke walking up to them clad in a set of no-nonsense navy pajamas. "Those can be used to invoke a death-like trance, can't they?"

"So that was Zabuza's ally?" Hinata blinked, wanting to punch something. "Are you _kidding_ me?"

"'Fraid not," shrugged Naruto. "We'll see both of them again. But it'll take a while before Zabuza recovers from the needles. A week, maybe a week and a half."

"So we train." Sasuke said decisively.

"Well, right now you need to rest. And eat something. Don't stay up too late and check for any weird soreness before you go to sleep," Naruto told the boy from his position lying on the dock. "You, too, Hinata-chan."

"Goodnight."

"'Night," both Uzumaki replied to the Uchiha, who went back inside.

Hinata lay back onto the wood planks alongside Naruto, who lazily turned to smile at her.

"You know, you're pretty zen for someone who went through what we did today."

He shrugged, "Everyone's alive and you're safe. Don't wanna worry about too much right now."

She inched forward and touched her lips to his, feeling her heartbeat speed up when he pulled her to him until they were close enough to embrace. She moved her fingers up to touch his damp hair, felt a rush of excitement when his hand cupped her hip. The sound of water lapping gently against the dock was enough to cover the sound of her light gasp when he got up and shifted so that he was hovering over her, pressing slight, teasing kisses to her mouth, eyes and cheeks.

She tightened her hold on his hair and pulled him down for a deeper kiss, surprised at how _wet_ it got when two mouths stayed open against each other. Naruto's tongue moved in slow circles over her teeth and mingled with hers, tickling the roof of her mouth before withdrawing. Hinata quickly leaned forward and bit down on his bottom lip, pulling him back over her, reinforcing the motion by wrapping her arms around his neck and moving one leg through the space that had opened when he'd gotten up so he was partially leaning on her, their hipbones bumping against each other each time one of them shifted.

"Wait, Hinata - "

"Don't wanna," she whispered back, excited by the way his flank would brush against hers and the new discovery that if she kept her hand pressed against his side, she could feel his ribs expand as he breathed. She kissed him again before he could protest, dishing out a double-attack by raking her fingers through his scalp and wrapping her legs around his waist, unable to hold back a smile when she felt a hardness start pressing against her pajama shorts.

Another advantage to Konoha's students staying in the Academy for more years than others was how the sex education classes went side-by-side with seduction. Several weeks of incredibly uncomfortable lessons, class discussions and tests yielded ninja who knew the uses and vulnerabilities of any given area of the body. Silly Naruto for being unprepared to deal with this.

"Now, that's not fair."

"What are you gonna do about it?" she asked throatily.

"Punish you," he purred back - and then began mercilessly tickling her ribs.

"H-_Hey!"_ she attempted to kick him off of her, but the position she'd aligned them in did not lend itself to easy kicking. Especially since he'd decided to just completely flop on top of her and let gravity do its job of keeping her stuck in place. "No fair!"

"Oh? Not _fair?_ My apologies," Naruto grinned and got up onto his knees, letting her relax from her scrunched up position - only to lift her shirt and blow a raspberry on her exposed stomach.

Hinata shrieked and finally kicked him away, curling into a fetal position and trying hard to resist smiling back at him when he grinned at her from his place against the wall of the house.

Footsteps alerted them to Sasuke returning and glaring at them both, "You're being noisy."

"Sorry," Naruto said, then turned to Hinata, "C'mon, it's about time to go to sleep, anyway." He stretched out a hand to her, which she accepted - only to yank him in the direction of the water and out of sight.

"There wasn't a splash," mused Sasuke.

Hinata tentatively inched forward, keeping her belly to the dock in case Naruto tried to pull her in, then scoffing when she saw him lying lazily on his back in the water, probably suspending himself with chakra, since she couldn't see any wetness on his clothes.

"Yo."

"Get your ass up here."

"Dunno if that's a good idea. You and Sasuke are both up there. Together, you might kill me."

Said Uchiha gave a scoff and went back inside. She narrowed her eyes at the blonde, who merely smiled back at her.

"How 'bout this," he suggested, spreading his hands wide in a show of innocence, "We both get out of this dry, and go inside and cuddle."

"Sounds good." She got onto her knees and reached out to him. Naruto took her outstretched hand, braced himself against the semi-solid liquid - and pulled her into the water.

[-M-]

Come breakfast time, Sakura was conscious and could move on her own - carefully. She ate a smaller meal and guessed that Kakashi - who'd been prodding at her to eat more - would've ordinarily commented, but seeing as she still bled if she got up or turned to look at something too fast, everyone sort of minded their own business when it came to what she did.

She wasn't happy about it, that was for sure. Any idiot could see that the disadvantages outweighed the time Sasuke had spent holding her hand - particularly since the entirety of it had been spent with her talking, and flitting in and out of consciousness so that she wasn't even sure if half of it was real. She was certain she'd confessed a fear of him finding her unattractive to him because of the scar at some point. Maybe it wasn't even Sasuke she'd mentioned it to - Hinata had brought it up when she'd been helping her bathe, saying something about how Sasuke liked serious ninja and that scars and kunoichi went together like strawberries and cream.

More than anything, she was grumpy. She felt like the kid who had to take a timeout during a field trip. Except the timeout included being unable to shower or get up from a laying position without help. The more she looked around, the more it looked like everyone was actually having some degree of fun. Tazuna and his daughter were joking about domestic things, Naruto and Hinata had begun some charade in which he flirted mildly and she pretended to be upset with him about something that happened last night, and Kakashi calmly took in the atmosphere with a smile on his face while reading his dirty book. Even Sasuke seemed satisfied with the way events had panned out, having been able to test himself against a real enemy.

And then there was that little brat of Tsunami's who liked to tell them they were all going to die and that it was hopeless for them to attempt change. It was really starting to piss her off.

"Naruto-kun, are you sure you don't want anything?" the dark-haired woman leaned over the table with a concerned expression on her face.

"Nah, thanks. I'm on a weird diet," he replied, "For my health."

"Will you be staying with us, or moving on?" Kakashi asked the chuunin.

"Huh?"

Naruto waved away the concerned expression on Hinata's face, "I'm not here as part of your team, remember? I have my own mission."

"What is it?"

"Top secret." He made a _shh-_ing gesture. "I'm leaving after breakfast. Should be back sometime in the middle of the week."

Which annoyed Sakura more, because now she had to deal with Hinata for company. Or had to deal with no company, while Hinata went ahead and sparred with Sasuke-kun.

After breakfast, the Uzumaki couple decided to have a makeout session right outside Sakura's window - it wouldn't've been so bad if she could get up to close the damn thing. In between kisses and Hinata's various sounds of appreciation the two reminded each other to be safe and then, with one last slip of the tongue, the blonde departed.

Worst of all, Hinata refused to blush or deny anything, instead grinning and giving her obscene smirks while describing in good detail what it felt like to kiss Chuunin Uzumaki. But at least she had someone with real experience to go to, now.

"Was it firm or gentle?" Sakura asked, trying to imagine the blonde sucking face. It didn't work well, he was too polite.

"I'm remembering it being more slippery, to be honest. You have to keep swallowing, you know? There's a lot of spit in there…"

"I know," Sakura shuddered. "I got paired with Ishida at cram school." Supplementary classes covering things like poisons, emergency wound dressing and the practical aspect of lip-locking.

Hinata scrunched her nose, "Surprised you could bear kissing anyone but your precious Sasuke_-kun."_

"Teacher said that if we took the class, we had to commit, including the weird lessons." Sakura sighed. "At least I know what to do, now."

"Stop that."

Sakura looked down to see that she'd been scratching below her bandages. She shrugged, "Anyway. You never took the class, did you?"

"Didn't wanna. First of all, no way I'm kissing anyone other than Naruto," Hinata said pointedly, "Second, they're just extra stuff you'd end up learning as you went, anyway."

"Like you learned to dress my wound on the battlefield yesterday?" Sakura raised an eyebrow. "I get that you hate school, but seriously, it's my _life_ we're talking about. Crack open a textbook."

Hinata flinched. "Sorry."

"Apologizing really doesn't suit you."

"If we're gonna go there, the cutesy-girl image really doesn't suit _you."_

"Excuse me?" Sakura resisted the urge to sit up. That would just mess with her wrappings.

"Look, I know you learned how to girl from Ino, and that's fine, but it's not really your style."

"You're getting into touchy-feely territory here, Hinata." Sakura raised an eyebrow.

"See? You can be sarcastic, too. Some guys find that sexy." Hinata smirked.

"_Weird_ guys."

"Sorry - forgot you like Sasuke Uchiha. Totally normal guy right there."

"You know what? Shut up," the pinkette leaned back and closed her eyes, "Leave the cripple to rest in peace and quiet."

"I'm just saying - Ino's got the cutesy-girl thing down pretty good. If you're gonna go after Sasuke, maybe some variety would help."

Sakura just stared uncomprehendingly.

"_Be yourself."_

"_Myself_ scares the shit out of boys." 

Hinata put her face in her hands, _"Gods, _it's like talking to a five-year-old."

Sakura waited until Hinata was no longer safe behind her fists, then threw a pillow at her. "Keep out of my business, white-eyes."

"I'm just saying - "

"Well, _don't. _I didn't ask you to. Stay out of my life." Sakura scowled.

Hinata pursed her lips and folded her hands over her chest. _"Fine." _With that, she got up and left.

Sakura tried to lean back against her bed again, only to remember that that was her only pillow, and it was all the way across the room now. She considered slumping against her headboard in defiance, but reasoned that would just put unnecessary strain on her injury. The best she could do was shimmy down under her sheets and go to sleep.


	5. Chapter 5

Of all the things Sasuke expected Hinata to be doing during their break from sparring, it wasn't reading. Napping, maybe. The book she was holding wasn't particularly impressive; it was more like a handbook and from what he could see the passages were bullet-pointed but it was still a text and that was honestly the most he'd ever seen the Uzumaki read. He hadn't even been sure she _could _read.

"What's up, Sasuke?" she asked, eyes remaining on the page for a few seconds, mouthing what she was reading, then turning to him and blinking eyes the color of milk.

"Chuunin Uzumaki's secret. You know it."

Her face immediately closed off, eyes narrowing and mouth setting into a line. "Yes. Why?"

He didn't respond, trying to figure out why he wanted to know so much, himself.

She calmed down a bit, shook her bangs away from her eyes, "Just curious? That's Naruto's business, you know?"

He eyed her again, "You two know each other."

"Yeah. He...he's probably the only person I'd do anything for."

He settled himself down against a nearby tree, not actually willing to get any closer.

Hinata set her book aside and pulled her knees up to her chin, staring at him with a slight smile. "We were friends when we were little. Something happened...his secret got out. And we decided to stay friends."

"You were very quiet for the first few years in the Academy," Sasuke recalled.

She nodded, "That changed after we met. The Hyuuga didn't like my new attitude, and they disowned me. Naruto took me in."

"People in Konoha call you…" He didn't want to say it.

"The demon's whore," Hinata's mouth worked around the words like she relished speaking them, giving him a challenging smirk when he met her gaze. "Naruto hates it. When we were kids, he tried to break up our friendship because of how the villagers treated him. Didn't want the same thing to happen to me." Sasuke stayed quiet, waiting for the rest. "I'm..._proud_...to be called that. I think, if there was one thing I'd like my life to be about, it'd be about staying with him."

"Why do they call him that?"

"I already said! If he wants to tell you, he will!" She made an angry noise. "Why are you so determined to find out, anyway?"

The Uchiha considered just walking away, but recalled her moniker and the words spilled out despite himself, "He's our age and he's been a chuunin for four years. He's already part of a _department._ I need to know how he got ahead of us."

She looked at him for far longer than he felt the answer needed, milky-purple eyes devoid of their usual spark, finally just pursing her lips and turning back to her reading. Sasuke didn't say anything either and leaned back against his tree, deciding to get a few minutes' rest in before Kakashi found them and called time on their break.

[-M-]

The sound of a slap rang out across the forest, followed by a much quieter curse.

Naruto examined the bloody smear on his palm and decided that, yes, he really _did_ despise Wave. Though that night had been cool, with sunrise came humidity, and with humidity came sweat, thirst and all-around discomfort. Though he could bet Hinata was having a much more difficult time with bugs, her usual combination of shorts and a shirt that displayed her midriff would be much more comfortable in this heat than being weighed down by dark pants, boots, a vest heavy enough to suffocate a child and ten-or-so pounds of weapons.

So. Problem number one: heat. Problem number two: his canteen was getting low. And he was sure he'd be in desperate need of a piss in, say, a half hour. Thankfully, the majority of the streams here were, somehow, freshwater. He guessed they ran from underground and then emptied out into the sea. Which was nice when you needed to stay hydrated due to high temperatures and irresponsible choice of attire.

Better to search for water now, while he was fairly sure there was still some distance between him and the Hunter-nin's hideaway, than later. He'd only tracked the ninja from eighteen-hundred yesterday to sundown, so he hadn't gotten very far from the site of their battle. Now, he was just starting on the trail again.

Had he been here without the purpose of murder and buried beneath all his gear, he might've enjoyed himself. Every-so-often, a breeze would stir the leaves and a few droplets of dew would hit his face and cool his skin. The dark soil was dappled with sunlight from a medley of plants, some of which sported giant pink blossoms and gave off a heady perfume that Ibiki might like (the man liked to garden, the more flowers the better). It was a beautiful scene, actually, and only became more so when he finally spotted a water source. Perhaps if they got a moment once it was all over, he'd show Hinata this spot.

He dipped his hands into the cool water, not allowing himself to use time to just enjoy the feeling between his fingers, before cupping his hands together and bringing them up to his mouth. It took a moment before the taste registered - blood.

Naruto took care to fill his canteen before getting up and walking up the stream. It took him another ten minutes before he found what he was looking for: a corpse clumsily hidden under several large leaves, a dark trail almost covered with flies and insects leading from its resting spot to the water. Whoever had left it there hadn't been careful about being caught at all, because a path of broken branches and disturbed dirt lead clearly away from the body.

He gingerly stepped onto a tree and began leaping from branch to branch above the way, keeping a close eye ahead in case he ever met up with the mysterious killer. It seemed they hadn't stuck around, though - and why would they, when they had such a lovely tree house to spend their time in?

Naruto shook his head and jumped down to get a better look from the forest floor - then had to quickly replace himself with a squirrel to avoid being impaled with two dozen senbon rigged to a wire he'd triggered. He held his breath as a curtain was pulled aside and a disdainful sniff was heard.

When he was sure no-one was watching, he inched out from his hiding spot and took a longer look at the wooden hut up in the trees. Ropes and ladders criss-crossed around it, and several more traps could be seen tucked away in various convenient spots. Instead of risking it himself, he made a clone and sent it ahead. Thankfully, his nose could pick up the bloodiest parts of the structure, and his copy avoided them, not setting off any more traps until he was safely pressed against the side of the hut. Side-to-side with his doppelganger, he could finally make out what its inhabitants were saying.

" - If you touch Zabuza-sama, I will kill you." The voice was a woman's.

"Tch. Screw up again and you're out of this organization." Heavy footsteps, the sound of a door swinging open.

Naruto dropped to the ground and crawled until he could see Gato (if possible, the real thing looked even crustier than the photo he'd been given) and two burly guards walk steadily down a flimsy metal stepladder and climb into a truck, the back of which was covered in a green tarp and tied down. He motioned for his clone to stay, then used the replacement technique to make his way to the ground without being seen and slipped underneath the vehicle, chakra substituting for handholds and muscle work making up for the rest.

Within minutes, the shadows that had surrounded Zabuza's abode disappeared, so he warily shimmied up and out from under the rig and crawled under the sheet. He took a moment to stretch his sore muscles and catch his breath before looking around.

Nothing special - boxes, mostly. None were actually locked and when he lifted the cover of one, he found a neat pile of machetes. The next contained sai, a long one was filled with crude but usable katana. A container near his entrance held tightly-wrapped parcels of what smelled like marijuana. Under them were small bags containing a white powder which he elected not to sniff. Gato's drug business was booming, evidently.

And, he thought as he surveyed the truck of weaponry, he was preparing for something. An attack, but on whom? And where did Gato get so many mercenaries that he needed _this _many arms? This was too many for a single shop in Konoha, even (though that may be because Konoha's large weapons were more carefully crafted). He sighed and leaned back against the boxes, resting until he felt the truck slow down. A small slash through the tarp with a kunai yielded the sight of a courtyard, and no-one but a single guard to observe this side of the truck.

He slipped out from under the covering and slunk behind a dumpster, gagging at the smell, and waited.

[-M-]

Four days after Naruto had left, Sakura could sit up and bathe herself, Sasuke could set fire to a tree effortlessly without more than one handsign, and Kakashi was almost at one hundred percent again. Hinata, meanwhile, was beside herself with anxiety, and constantly checked for any sign of him with her eyes, excusing the use of chakra as an exercise in control. No-one bought it, but they didn't bother her about it, either, which was good. For them.

It was during one of these searches that she _finally _caught sight of a spiky head of yellow hair and abandoned her perimeter check to pounce on him, regretting it when the close proximity to him made her retch. He stank like something the cat dragged in, and was soaking wet, besides.

"Guess the swim didn't help the smell, huh?" he chuckled at her wrinkled nose and didn't pretend to act offended when she stepped away and nervously sniffed her shirt for any evidence of his stench coming off on her.

"What did you do, crawl there through the sewers?"

"No, I slept in a dumpster. Get it right, Hinata."

"C'mon. The shower should be free right now." Despite his stink, she took his hand and lead him to Tazuna's house then watched as he stripped down to his underwear right outside, only taking his vest and all his weapons' pouches with him onto the dock.

Reeking of waste or not, that didn't take away from the fact that his chest and back were bare and _very_ nicely muscled. And glistening with water from his aforementioned swim. A few bruises were forming around his shoulders and left side, which she was looking forward to rubbing her healing ointment on.

As was common in Wave for some reason, Tazuna's shower was outside on his dock, shielded from view by two heavy saloon doors and a simple sliding lock. She took Naruto's belongings and went inside for a towel, commenting on the chuunin's return to Kakashi, who nodded in acknowledgement.

When she got back outside, he was shaking the water out of his hair and looking over the doors to smile at her. She smiled back.

"Hinata..."

"Yes, Naruto-kun?"

"Give me the towel."

"Sure. Here." She held it out, not nearly close enough that he could reach out and take it.

The corners of his mouth turned up, though he hid it behind a wrist when he leaned on the doors, "So cruel - I get back from a tiring, difficult assignment and I'm forced to streak just to dry off?"

"I could pay you back later."

"How about right now?" His smirk blossomed over his face and she felt her heartbeat speed up. "Come _here,_ Hinata-chan."

She obeyed, stretching onto her toes to mash her lips against his once she'd met the door, shivering when his wet fingers brushed her hair back and trailed over her collar. The door opened inward and one arm still warm from the water crushed her against his bare front, her jacket dampening from the contact. He didn't let her step back, rotating the two of them away from the doors and walking her into the wet wall, continuing to swirl his tongue around her mouth and nip at hers playfully when she extended it to his. One hand leisurely pulled down on the zipper of her top, the other sneaking in and swiping his thumb over her nipple, making a familiar ache form below her navel.

Abruptly, his hands stopped - she opened her eyes to see him standing smugly outside the shower with her jacket around his waist like an apron.

"I hate you," she said decisively, but nonetheless admired his abs from her nice vantage point. If only there was a bit more light.

"You're the one who stole my towel," he replied, walking sideways towards the nail and wrapping the damn thing around himself before tossing her her jacket. "C'mon, I've got loot to share."

[-M-]

Uzumaki's mission had yielded a surprising number of scrolls containing information on jutsu, given that he'd been spying on a civilian business tycoon.

"This is for you," the chuunin passed a pink scroll to Sasuke, "And these are for you," he gave no less than four to Sakura. "Don't lose or damage them; I have to turn them in to Konoha when we get back."

All four were for medical jutsu, Sakura noted, and one was so advanced it completely abandoned the structure the Academy had given them for healing. That, or it had been written hastily and the user of the technique was supposed to somehow combine the typical pattern for medical jutsu and the method shown here. For someone like Hinata, it would be impossible, but - Sakura allowed herself a small smile - she was more advanced than Hinata. In chakra control, she'd even beat Sasuke-kun, probably.

"You can practice and when you have the hang of it, you can take care of yourself. I have some bruises you can work on treating."

She noticed the female Uzumaki's expression sour and figured there was supposed to be a romantic injury-treating session after this. Well, it served her right for butting into her life. "Are you sure? I've only done the Academy basics."

"That might even be enough, they're not that bad. Just try to practice what's in the scrolls."

"Alright. Thank you." She gave him a sweet smile and he responded in kind, oblivious to his girlfriend's curled lip. When the boys turned their attention to Sasuke's scroll, she shot Hinata a smirk.

"That one's actually _really_ expensive. Fireproof, too - it's for fire jutsu, which I think the Uchiha are supposed to be good with?" Sasuke nodded. Uzumaki continued, "Well, give those a try and feel free to write down whatever's in there so that you can keep training with it after we turn them in."

"Thank you," Sasuke answered curtly, opening the scroll and peering in at the notes and illustrated forms.

"Sorry I don't have anything for you, Hinata," Uzumaki shrugged apologetically, "He had some other scrolls, but they were mostly chakra theory and I wanted to make sure to get these to Sakura."

Hinata smiled and shook her head, shooting Sakura another glare once his attention was diverted. The pinkette gave a shrug and tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. Was it her fault that guys liked damsels in distress?

After dinner, Uzumaki's bruises disappeared beneath the green glow of her chakra under Hinata's watchful eye, and each retired to their own sleeping space - or so she assumed, being confined to her room due to her injury. Hinata didn't take up her usual spot on a mat near her bed, which was fine by her, since it meant she could stay up late and continue studying the scrolls the chuunin had left her.

The writing was clear and easy to decipher, possibly not even hand-written but printed - all but the last scroll Uzumaki-sempai had brought. This one was still neat, but more personality was expressed in the notes, the descriptions of flesh knitting together again given more details - _'like an easy weave (fishtail braid)' _the person had written, and included a small sketch.

"_Form a steady flow of hot chakra that gathers in the fingertips and NOT the palm,"_ Sakura mouthed, making the necessary hand signs and then watching as a bright glow started up, becoming nearly neon as she increased the intensity as per instructions. _"Lower to the affected area…"_ She did, holding the light to her collar where she'd unwrapped the bandages, then hissed and jerked away, sending the scrolls on her lap clattering to the floor. A throbbing, burning sensation continued along her injury, though she'd dispelled her chakra already.

Shakily, she clambered out of bed and walked over to the mirror hanging on the wall to peer at her shoulder. A small, braid-like pattern of skin had formed where before, there had been open muscle. She'd done it! Though the pain turned out to be _searing, _not just 'fair' as the scroll warned_._

The door opened; Sasuke peered in, immediately looking to the ground when he saw her bare shoulders and how one arm was supporting her unbuttoned pajama top to her chest.

"I was testing out the medical jutsu," she explained. "Did I wake you?"

"Hn." He shook his head, but curiously raised his eyes to look at the now-healed line of flesh climbing over her collar. The pattern was not at all natural and could only be the result of jutsu. "Did it work?"

"Yeah, but it stings like crazy. Do you have anymore painkillers?"

"You shouldn't take anymore," he replied, but walked over to the wall and retrieved a bottle of pills for her nonetheless.

She bit her lip and lowered her shirt some more, then gathered her chakra in her palm and repeated her actions from before, this time sucking in a loud breath as the skin began to weave together again, willing herself to take the pain because _Sasuke_ was watching. Sasuke's expression remained stoic as he observed her working, the only motion he made being the opening of the pill bottle. As her hand neared the top of her breasts, she pulled it away and gave him a triumphant smile, only to yelp when her knees buckled and she found herself draped over Sasuke's arm, a small collection of tablets scattered around the floor from his lunge for her.

"Chakra exhaustion?" he grunted, handing her the container and putting her other arm over his shoulder then hauling her back to her bed, gathering up the scrolls on the floor and setting them on her nightstand.

"Thanks," she said running her fingertips over the seam running down her chest. The coolness temporarily soothed the smarting sensation. "Can you hand me that one?" She set the bottle on the table by her bed and stretched her hand out for the fourth scroll, blinking when he instead pressed a pill into her palm.

"Don't practice anymore tonight."

"I just want to - "

"It can wait. You'll be just as useless as Kakashi was if you work yourself too hard." He went to pick up the capsules on the floor. "Do you need water?"

"No." She swallowed it dry and tucked herself into bed. "Thank you, Sasuke-kun."

"Hn."

"Goodnight."

Morning found Sakura tired and hungrier than usual, but with more mobility in her left shoulder. The sealing of the cut wasn't the only effect of the jutsu, it seemed - lifting the pill bottle and tossing it into the air, then catching it was as easy as it had been before the injury.

In the hallway, she ran into her crush and gave him a bright smile. At his raised eyebrow, she pouted, "I didn't take anymore, Sasuke-kun."

They travelled through the den - where they found Hinata in Chuunin Uzumaki's lap, holding tightly to his T-shirt, still asleep (one blue eye might've opened to see them enter, but she couldn't be sure) - and into the kitchen, which they'd been told by Tsunami to raid at their leisure. The unspoken rule was to eat ration bars if they were that hungry and only eat meals with their hosts, who in all likelihood were already destitute without their consuming another five servings each meal. _'Four, actually,'_ she amended as she searched the cabinets for mugs. Uzumaki was on his special diet. She'd never seen him eat, now that she thought about it.

"I'll get it," Sasuke said as he set the large kettle onto the stove, "Sit down."

If he was worried about her straining herself, he needn't have been - such mundane movement would've actually been better for her muscles than keeping still. But there was a psychological effect to doing things for other people; it tricked you into believing you held affection for them even if you originally didn't, so she demurely sat down and thanked him for his effort.

"How do you take your tea?"

"Anyway is fine, Sasuke-kun," Another mind trick: a person's name tended to be their favorite word, and saying it had a similar effect. "Ah! But we probably shouldn't use any sugar or milk, ne?" Too bad Sasuke's irises were too dark to keep an eye on his pupils.

The stove crackled. She wondered if this would make any significant change in the bridge builder's gas bill.

"Did you sleep well?"

"Hn."

"I think I fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow," she giggled.

"Good. One of us did." Hinata's dry remark cut through the peaceful atmosphere better than the whistle of the kettle.

"Don't complain like you didn't choose to sleep on the floor," Uzumaki said cheerfully behind her. She grumbled, but couldn't hide her slightly pleased expression, which only evolved into a smile when he kissed her cheek and retrieved another mug for her.

"There's more than enough for four, Uzumaki-san," Sakura chirped.

"No, thank you," he said with an easy smile, "Tea's not for me."

"Are you sure?"

"Quit harassing my man," Hinata said pointedly and held out her mug to Sasuke.

Sakura serenely ignored her and smiled in thanks as the prodigy poured each of them hot water, then did the same for Uzumaki when he held out a box of tea bags to the company.

"What's on the agenda for today?" the blond asked.

"Making out with me," Hinata muttered into her mug.

"She's not a morning person."

"I know. We share a room," Sakura said, tossing her pill bottle into the air again.

"We've been sharing a room for years and Naruto's always managed," Hinata pouted.

"Drink your caffeine, dear," replied the ninja in question, smiling when she turned her petulant expression on him.

"Training," grunted Sasuke. "And the tea's decaffeinated."

Hinata slammed her mug onto the table and gave Sakura a disbelieving glare, "You - you - !"

The pinkette smirked, "Yes, _dear?"_

"You told me it was caffeinated!"

"It was the only way to get you to stop bitching in the morning. It's not like there's any coffee to give you."

"So she really _can't_ tell?" Sasuke raised an eyebrow.

"I could've told you that," snickered Uzumaki, "Did it for a month, once."

"You _bastards!"_

"Maa, so noisy…" came Kakashi's voice, and Sakura had to tame her grin in order to play her part as the innocent bystander.

…

…

A/N: My stripper!Hinata oneshot is in progress, so keep an eye out for it if you like naruhina. Added sasusaku to the description because i believe that's where i'm taking this.


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